Larch Bonsai

This it the Larch that I have been asking about.

The picture is up now.sorry for all the post i have made trying to get this tree looked at by someone!!!! thanks very much,,john

The picture is up but i am having trouble with the foliage..it is wilting and turning a transparent brown color.i guess larch is not my bonsai..i did put it in simi shade for a while it is 90 deg.here so i thought it may help..but i do not know. thanks john

90 ° Farenheit is, for the rest of the world, about 32 ° Celsius (water freezes at 0° c, boils at 100° C, and the temperature of the human body is around 37° C)

Reading "This it the Larch that I have been asking about", I suppose you had posted about it before, but I couldn't find the message.

Anyway, what kind of larch is it ? The species in the gender "Larix" can have different requirements for temperature and humidity, but most of the species that grow in the northern hemisphere like a lot of sun but a damp atmosphere. The soil in your picture looks much too dry to me, this is not a pine : a larch is a heavy drinker, he doesn't like to be dry.

I think putting a layer of sphagnum moss on the soil would help, or if you don't have any at hand, long fibers of peat, to keep the roots damp. It's apparently got a nice "nebari", and I'm sure you can do something very interesting with it, but mist it as often as you can, and feed it too. Most larch species don't fear hot weather, but they dread to have their roots dry out.

Thank you Alaink for your posting for me..you could be right maybe i do not have the soil moist the way it should be.i will wet it down more often. i have time release fertilize and spray with liquid fert. any other information i can use???? thank you john

John...

How did you come by it, and what do you know of it's history? Larch get extremely annoyed if they are transplanted at the wrong time of year, and can persist for some time looking like they might be ok, when they are already well on their way to tree heaven. I am a little concerned that your tree is failing at this point. So the more information you have, the better....

Victrinia

moyogijohn wrote:This it the Larch that I have been asking about.

This is the European Larch you said you saw at a local landscape center, and your daughter bought it for you? The one that had brown needles with green buds emerging from the center of each cluster? What's happened with the needles since then, have those buds developed into a fresh batch of needles that are staying green?

(In future, PLEASE do not start any more new threads about the same tree. If you have a new photo or question about the same tree, find your last post about that tree and reply to that post. That'll keep everything in one thread so we can see everything you've written about the tree, and we won't waste time asking for info you've already provided. To see all the messages you've posted, just click the Profile button, then "See My Profile", then "Find all posts by moyogijohn".)

Did you chop and wire it before any buds had started to open, while the new needles were emerging, or after the needles had fully opened?

Did the landscape center have it labelled as a European Larch, or did you just guess about the "European" part? Identifying the variety correctly can help us give better advice on how to care for it. If the nursery's label gave the scientific name, that would be very helpful.

The nebari look promising. Very few branches, but buds and tufts of needles on the trunk which could produce new branches. What it really needs now is to be allowed to grow freely for a few years. Transplanting it in the ground will help speed development, but don't do it until next spring, for now just concentrate on keeping it alive.

First thing i want to say i am sorry for double posting about my trees...Victrinia and cliff,,yes this is the tree my daughter got for me.it is a european larch by the tag on it..it was a landscape tree ball and burlaped about 5 feet tall,i chopped about 3 feet from the top,removed the burlap and the root ball was mud clay. i washed it down no root pruning and planted it in a over size plastic pot. i did prune the branches back though.. the needles have turned but there is some new growth. Alaink another poster said maybe i was not giving enough water??? I thank you all for helping and do not mean to be a bother to anyone..thanks john

John...

Were the needles already pushing or out when you did this work?

If so... I'm sorry to say it will likely fail. Larches should only ever be root worked prior to bud break, after they have started to swell and turn golden. Once the green is showing and needles are coming, that window has closed, and any root work that follows is very risky.

So knowing when you did this work is very important....

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

Thank you,Victrinia, the foliage was out when i did the work that i posted in the last post i made..so i guess i will be looseing this one.. it pays to know how and when to do the work... thanks john

It is unfortunately likely... don't give up hope... but also have realistic expectations. If the soil is moist, don't keep watering more, because likely the tree has little ability to absorb water vapor at the moment, and being constantly wet will just make it go down hill faster.

Of all species... Larch is the most fussy about root work. Many species have a much wider window than people give them credit for... larch is not one.

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

I didn't pay attention to when you worked this tree, but now that I know, I totally agree with Victrinia.

The timing for working with the roots is essential, but if you do it at the right time (just when buds swell and begin to show some green as Victinia wrote), there is usually no problem. You'll know next year

And yes, don't give up hope for this one, as long as it is not dead, alive it is

AlainK wrote:And yes, don't give up hope for this one, as long as it is not dead, alive it is

Wrong emoticon my friend.... (Sorry... couldn't resist.)

V

Will you my leg pulling stop ?..

(No, don't, actually: I really appreciate people who a mean sense of humour have )

Sorry friend... you are a call em' like you see em'... take your lumps with the best of em'... kind of chap. Which puts you in the camp of people I can appreciate. Which means you are just plain screwed... or not... depending on which sentance one reads.

And me mean??? What are you speaking of??? I'm a .... and sweet as ...... well sometimes anyway.

Yours in amusement,

V